Thoughts on the Day the War Ended
In March of 1945 it was clear that the end of the war was in sight. Our troops
were rushing Eastward and we joined up with the Russians at the Elbe River.
Targets were getting fewer and fewer as our troop lines and bomb lines became
indistinct. By the end of April the 344th was ordered to stand down and all
operations ceased to prevent our hitting our own troops. Then on the 5th of May
it all ended. The war was over.
This was met with wild drunkenness and raucous celebrations such as the world
had rarely experienced. We had lived through it all. The specter of death with
which we had lived so long was now removed. A full life lay ahead of us. We were
told that we would move to Germany and be part of the Army of Occupation. The
hot new A-26 Douglas Invaders would replace our war weary B-26 Martin Marauders.
Good news. But I was sorry to lose our old friend "Willie the Wolf". I
remembered some personal stuff I had left in Willie and drove out to collect it
all. I hoisted myself into Willie through the nose wheel well, then crawled
forward into the nose, but all I found was my E6-B. The Weems plotter and time
distance and pressure altitude calculators were in their regular slots in the
navigation compartment.
When I got back to our tent Bob and Paul had left for the Officers club. I went
to join them. Things were a bit quieter now. The riotous response to peace had
quieted down a bit and the mood was more reflective and circumspect. I thought of the 344th - a living organism made up of thousands of
men, aircraft, bomb and gas dumps and tons of equipment that would soon cease to
exist. It was like being witness to the death of a powerful living thing. As for
myself, what now? Being a bombardier navigator is all I knew. I had no
profession. My main reason to exist had been removed. What would I do now? At
that moment our co-pilot Bob Monson said in a rather pleading urgent tone, "What
will we all do now?" His query returned only silence.
Copyright © 2002 Art Kramer and Coastal Computers, Inc.